1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to a backlight device, and particularly to a system for driving a number of lamps used in backlight modules of liquid crystal displays.
2. Description of Related Art
Discharge Lamps, especially cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs), are used as light sources for liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. Typically, the CCFLs are driven by a number of inverter circuits. An inverter circuit provides alternating current (AC) signals to the CCFLs.
Generally, the inverter circuit employed by the large-size LCD panels includes a number of outputs to respectively provide AC signals to the CCFLs. When a short-circuit or open causes a fault on any output of the inverter circuit and a corresponding CCFL fails, the LCD panel loses its luminance symmetry. Due to lack of fault detection capabilities on the inverter outputs, the backlight inverter circuit fails to provide proper protection functions when faults occur.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a system for driving a plurality of lamps which can overcome the above-mentioned problems.